Words Will Never Be Enough
by ohmygodagiantrock
Summary: Roman Torchwick and the White Fang run a bank heist. Silent sparks fly between Roman and his favorite henchgirl. NeoxRoman. Oneshot. SPOILERS. (Won 1st in an anime convention fanfic contest )


"Roman, you're wasting my time!" Cinder shouted. "We are not bank robbers."

Cinder's voice, feminine but powerful, carried in waves of echoes throughout the industrial cavern of our hideout.

"Wasting your time?" Roman retorted. "_Your_ time? My men aren't getting _paid_, miss High-and-Mighty!"

My heart raced with giddiness, and I dashed up to a stack of crates, peeking around it. Finally, an ounce of excitement!

Roman had me directing the White Fang on where to stack the newest shipment of dust they'd stolen, but they seemed to handle themselves well enough for me to sneak away. I thought highly of the White Fang, and didn't feel they needed to be babysat. They and I seemed to understand each other, in a way that the rest of the world often did not. I rested my parasol on the ground and leaned in, trying my best to overhear.

"So if your time is so important, why don't you take a moment—just a brief moment—to consider how much _longer_ it will take us to receive the dust you're wanting us to move if we suddenly _have no men_?"

I wanted to snicker. Roman had such a way with words, and his arrogance and wit always won him favor. I loved to hear him argue. His words and his charm captivated me. The fawness in the next section over could be about to drop a crate of dust, and I doubted even the explosion could tear me away from his finesse.

"Keeping the White Fang pacified until we get paid for this heist is your job, Roman. We don't have the time or the resources to spend on robbing a bank."

Cinder's voice was always so beautiful, even when she was angry. Everything about her was beautiful. It was part of why I hated her.

I didn't exactly hate Cinder. But I liked her much less whenever she spent time with Roman.

"But that's the beauty of it, Boss! If we spend," Roman raised a hand to his face and pinched his fingers together, "just a _little_ bit of that time you don't think we have, we'll end up with enough resources to go around for everyone!"

He gestured his arms wide in a grand show of generosity. _Roman Torchwick_, I thought, my heart warm, _always the performer_.

"More cash, more dust… less angry fawness. Honestly, Cin, how long do you think a bank heist is supposed to take, anyway?"

Cinder growled. "Do not call me that, Roman."

She sounded angry. The stress always got to her before a big heist. Made her testy. Unpleasant. But, running in a band of thieves, we didn't usually meet with the most pleasant sorts—we weren't the most pleasant sort ourselves. It had nothing to do with my distaste for the woman. She was beautiful to behold, of course, and her words and soft voice could even be a comfort at times.

But there was something in her low, wanting voice and her—I have to admit—tasteless style of dress, that caught the eye of every man she passed. Confusion gripped me. I didn't like her, but a deep part of me… longed to be her. Especially when her fights with Roman grew this heated.

"Do you even have a plan?" she bit out angrily. "I have other things to tend to, you realize."

She spoke so elegantly, as well, even down to her choice of words.

"Of _course_ I have a plan, boss!" he smirked. "You think I'd 'waste your time' with this if it was just a spark in my head? No, I have _everything_ mapped out."

Roman made a gesture to the side, and a fawness appeared, holding a roll of paper. He handed it to Roman and disappeared again. Roman unrolled the paper and slapped it on the workbench behind Cinder.

I already knew all about Roman's plans, of course. He told me everything beforehand. We'd worked out the plan together. I didn't try too hard to listen to the details as Cinder huddled over his shoulder.

She could keep her dresses and pretty eyelashes. More than anything that Cinder possessed, I desired one part of her more than anything. Her beautiful voice, and her way of painting with her words. If I could speak, would I be capable of ever sounding half as elegant? Half as commanding? As soothing? It was for her use of this trait that I hated Cinder most of all.

Minutes later, Cinder stood up tall and backed away from the bench.

"I don't like this plan, Roman."

"Look, I know it's risky. But not more than anything else we do. We'll take a small team. It won't take much of us, anyway."

"But you'll be tapping into our dust stores."

"That won't be a problem once we pull off our next operation," he said with confidence.

_That's my Roman._

Cinder dropped her shoulders, and I heard her exasperated sigh.

"Take only what you need. Dust, men, weapons, transport. In and out, no delays. We don't have time for this."

Roman took his blueprint and turned his back to Cinder, wearing a bright smirk. He rolled up the paper.

"I knew you'd come around. We'll make it fast. We work tomorrow night."

She waved a hand, then rested it on her hip. Another heavy sigh. "Whatever. Just… don't be stupid about this, Roman. If you think you're going to get caught, bail."

I fumed. Roman, stupid? Who did that… _woman_ think she was? Maybe he could be careless at times, but I counted that as his confidence getting the best of him. But it was why we worked as a team, he and I. To balance each other.

"Don't worry about a thing, toots! We'll be back with a pile of cash before you know it!"

He began to walk toward me. I dodged and returned to the cases of dust. The fawness had been working hard, and nothing had exploded yet.

"Neo!" Roman greeted as he rounded the corner I had just been lurking at. His grin was electrified. He smelled like cologne and a gentle hint of cigar smoke. "It may have taken some convincing, but I got her to agree!"

I grinned back and stuck my thumb up. I tossed my parasol, still folded, over my shoulder, indicating I was ready for the action.

Roman laughed, and I felt my heart swell. "Not yet, Neo. We go tomorrow, at nightfall. Let's get the team prepped by then. I think we'll need about eight."

I nodded, and gave a salute.

He knocked the tip of my parasol down.

"And easy with that thing! Watch where you're pointing it. We don't want to set off a chain reaction, do we?"

Roman's grin hadn't left his face. He seemed entirely pleased with himself. And why shouldn't he? His research was thorough and his plan was solid.

* * *

When night fell, Roman gathered the fawness he'd prepped, and myself, and we drove in a black van to the bank.

I loved Roman's plan. It was carefully thought out, but it was still just a bit reckless. It was everything about him.

Roman picked the lock to the glass door of the bank with ease. He could have easily broken the glass—it clearly wasn't the kind of bulletproof material they used in front of the tellers. But he must have wanted to keep the ruckus at the street level to a minimum, at least until we were done.

Roman let two fawness enter the bank before us, and two behind, masks on and guns out. The only ones not wearing masks were Roman and myself, although, he had offered me one. But if we were going to get caught in this, I wanted solidarity with Roman more than I would want to go free. We were in this together.

What would I do without Roman, anyway?

The fawness entered the bank cautiously, but with purpose. We'd all seen the blueprints of the building and knew where to find the vault, our main objective. But they must have believed it wasn't a bad idea to keep an eye out for surprise guards or security cameras, even though the place was supposed to be unmanned, and we knew where all the cameras were.

"Heads up," Roman said in a low voice.

Then I saw him raise his cane to the wall. Just as I braced myself for the blast of dust, the lights came on, and there was silence. Our four fawness associates froze.

Roman grinned, still holding his cane to the light switch. His smile was so mischievous, like he knew he'd startled us all, that I could slap him.

"What are we doing sneaking around?" He asked with command. "Let's get this done! The boss doesn't want us wasting any _time_ tonight," he said, smirking.

I scowled at him, but he just grinned back, his eyes purely alight, that I couldn't help but feel the tug of my own smile. I rolled my eyes at him and moved on, my parasol at the ready.

"Boss," one of the fawness said. "What are you tryin' to do with the lights on? They're going to see us from the street!"

Roman gave a shrug. "Let them come. Why should we be afraid of being found out? All the better for the name of our mission."

The fawness stared at him uneasily, but when Roman gestured with his cane, they got back to it. We spread out more as we made our way to the vault. The two men in the lead stopped in front of the massive vault door.

"Alright boys, you know the plan," Roman said with confidence and raised his cane.

The fawness placed small boxes they'd carried in in front of the vault door and stepped back, giving the door a wide berth. One of the men tucked his tail out of the way.

"You might want to use your shield, Neo," Roman suggested. He grinned at me, excitement brimming.

I adored that goofy smile.

But I focused on our task. I flicked open my parasol and raised it in front of me, taking a step back behind Roman and his gun.

A tiny flashing light in the corner of my vision caught my eye. It came from just behind the teller booths. I searched for the source and noticed a tiny black mechanism. What was it? Too small and flat to be a camera—it didn't match the others we'd been carefully dodging.

"Fire in the hole!" he shouted as he pressed the trigger on his cane.

_A motion sensor?_ I wondered in a panic.

I didn't have time to think. Roman shot the dust, exploding the boxes and creating a blinding pillar of smoke.

_Good,_ I thought. _Maybe the sensor won't pick us up now._

But I wondered if it was too late already. Maybe it was an alarm, and we'd already triggered it. The authorities may have already been on the way. Adrenaline fought its way through my veins. Thinking quickly, I raised my parasol to the ceiling and shot out as many of the lights as I could in a moment, leaving us in a cloud of smoke and darkness.

"What the…?" Roman asked, but I couldn't see him, which meant he likely couldn't see me. "Did we blow the lights, too?"

_No, you colossal moron!_ I thought. _I blew the lights. Turn around and look at me!_

It was my best attempt to get his attention without being able to see him, but I was too late. I felt a jerk at my shoulder, like a hand, and I was twisted around and tossed on the ground. I felt the breath escape my lungs, and wished I could cry out to Roman.

Who had grabbed me?

I squirmed out from the hold pinning me down and kicked up, flinging myself to my feet, parasol at the ready. But another person behind me grabbed my arms, forcing me to drop my weapon and yanked my hands behind my back.

He was shouting something in my ear, hard to hear over the ringing in my ears from the blast, and the chaos of the fawness clearing rubble to get to the vault. My hands were put in cuffs, locked behind my back, as I struggled and fought.

Police. How had they made it so quickly? We'd barely had a chance to get the vault open. Had our ruckus tipped someone off earlier? Or… did we have an informant among us? I shook the thought away. The members of the White Fang had no reason to want the authorities chasing us.

A few more men in uniforms filed in and again I wished I could warn Roman. My parasol lay discarded at my side, out of my reach. The man above me planted a knee on my back, squeezing the air from my lungs.

"Oh honey, you're too pretty to be robbing banks," the man said.

_Roman… help!_

The other officers began to step slowly into the dissipating smoke. I heard Roman's voice cry out in surprise. Then there was a flash of light and a shot, and I silently rooted for my crew, craning my neck to see as much as a I could. As shots fired and the smoke cleared, the handful of officers scattered and took cover.

"Murphy! We need you!" one of the officers shouted, and the weight lifted off my back.

"Don't move, sweetheart. I've got to go get your friends."

I hid my smirk until he'd turned his back on me. When I was sure he'd disappeared, I flipped onto my back. With just a little finesse, I slipped my feet over the chain on my hands, so they were clasped in front of me now. I found my parasol and rolled behind a teller's counter.

Taking a moment to evaluate, I found I could still wield my weapon with my hands chained, and decided the new accessory might just come in handy in a fight.

Next, I looked around me. Even though most of the smoke had died down, a haze still hung in the air, and the building was dark now that I'd shot out the lights. But I wasn't worried. The fawness could see better at night, and Roman and I had held battles in the moonlight before. The police officers weren't likely so trained.

I tried to find Roman, but could only hear the shots of his gun. At least that meant he wasn't in chains like me. I noticed the vault was open, the metal door melted and twisted from the dust explosion. I couldn't see all the officers, but I believed there were five. Two of the fawness were still hauling carts of cash from the vault, so Roman and the other men must be keeping the police at bay.

I used my silence to my advantage and remained hidden, until I heard a shootout nearby. One of the fawness swiftly dodged an officer's bullets while Roman followed behind him, shooting at the man's feet, toying with him. I smiled. Of course he would be doing some of that.

But another officer joined the fight, and just as I was about to jump in, Roman shot at the first officer's leg, putting him down for the moment, and gave the new man his full attention. The man came at him with a club, and managed to land a hard hit on Roman's shoulder.

My blood boiled, and I rose to my feet. I stomped over, as dignified as if my hands were free. I rose my parasol and shot the man square in the chest. He stumbled backward and dropped his baton, but didn't seem too badly injured, so he must have been wearing a protective vest.

"Thanks, Neo," Roman said over his shoulder, without turning to look at me.

_Good_, I thought. I didn't want him seeing the cuffs on my wrists. Not until we were outside the bank and I needed him to shoot the chain.

The officer pulled out a small device that looked like a radio, and I aimed to shoot it out of his hands. We didn't need him calling for backup. But Roman knocked my parasol.

"No! You could hit him in the face, and we're not killing anyone here today."

I lowered my weapon. He had a point. The mission was to get in and out as quickly as possible, not to make it messy. It wasn't the reputation we were aiming for.

But the device wasn't a radio, and when Roman spun to shoot at another officer's legs, the man pressed what seemed to be a taser to Roman's thigh. Roman convulsed, until I unsheathed the blade from my parasol and slashed his hand. He dropped the weapon, and I crushed it furiously with my heel. The officer, who's rib I suspected I may have cracked as his breathing was labored, cowered over his sliced hand.

Roman had fallen to the ground. The chain on my hands had hindered my ability to get my blade out on time, or I could have stopped the attack on Roman faster. I knelt beside him.

Roman choked something out and forced himself to sit up, gently pushing me back. I agreed—we didn't have time to lie down yet. He labored to climb to his feet, but didn't allow me to help.

I picked up my fallen parasol and slid the blade back into the handle. It was of little use to me, but I still had my dust. I extended the shield, standing back to back with Roman, and waited for the officers to make the next move. One of the fawness men had been caught, and was being pushed out the front door by one of the officers. While that wasn't great, we'd downed two of them so far, so it only left two on the scene.

"Hurry up with that money!" Roman shouted, his voice strained.

"On it, Boss! We've loaded half already!"

"Get the other half! We want all of it."

The fawness picked up their pace.

One officer climbed out of the shadows only for Roman to give him a warning shot, and he ducked away again.

"Damnit, Stanley!" another voice shouted. "We've got to get these guys! Use your guts!"

The voice came from somewhere over my shoulder, on Roman's side. Just as I was trying to blindly pinpoint where the man was, the two remaining officers ambushed us, guns raised. I held my shield up, wearing my smirk. Their guns couldn't touch me.

I felt Roman's shoulders raise, and I guessed he was feigning surrender. A last-ditch strategy. I paid as much attention to him as I could, since I couldn't shield us both from two enemies.

"Drop your weapons!" the officer behind me screeched.

"Don't have one, officer," Roman said innocently. "Just this here walking stick. It's the guys with the ears and tails holding all the guns.

Roman waved his arms, presumably shrugging and offering his cane. I had to guess, since I refused to take my eyes off the officer in front of me. The man before me looked menacingly angry.

"I thought I had _you_ already," he growled.

I kept my smirk and held fast to my shield.

"I've had enough of this," the man said.

He fired his weapon. The bullet bounced off my shield, and I smiled innocently from behind its protective lace. The man's face turned furious as he fired again, and again failed to get past my shield.

I heard Roman growl from behind me. He whipped around and fired a shot into the man's arm just over my shoulder. The man grunted darkly, but didn't drop his gun. I raised my shield to cover us both from his now frantic fire, even as his injured arm hung limply.

The second his clip ran out, I closed my shield and charged at him while Roman handled the officer behind us. I landed a sidekick to the injured man and he fell backward, so I launched the gun from his hand. I pinned him down with my sharp heel in the shoulder of his uninjured arm while I dug for the keys to my cuffs on his belt.

I yanked them off and rolled to dodge the gunfire behind me, pinning myself beside a file cabinet and opened my shield again. Roman and the last officer were fighting, but it seemed that the man had damaged Roman's cane somehow. He was no longer using its firepower.

I heard sirens outside and my blood ran cold. Had the officers managed to call for backup anyway? Another stampede of footsteps rushed the doors, but they were met with some of our fawness men. I fumbled with the keys, trying to find the smallest one on the ring. When I had it in my fingers, I struggled to reach the lock with my hands bound.

"Boss!" one of them shouted.

"Little busy…" Roman spat.

"The van's loaded! We're rolling out!"

"Great," he cheered, but his voice sounded stressed.

"Not yet, you aren't," said a voice that had to belong to one of the new officers.

I abandoned my attempts with the key and stuffed the jingling ring into my pocket, rising to my feet. Roman needed my help. But I only managed a few steps when a man pulled me backward by the elbow.

_This again?_ I thought, growling with frustration. I closed my parasol, not wasting a second, and shot the man in the foot.

But to my shock it didn't stop him. It only seemed to piss him off. With a furious expression, he brought out his baton and slugged me hard in the side of the head. I dropped to my knees, seeing bright sparks across my vision, that I could only hope was dust our men were using to fight. Then I felt the jolt of electricity as the man used his own taser on my side, and I knew we weren't winning this fight with dust.

I lay on the ground paralyzed, hearing little but the rushing of blood in my ears. I wanted to scream, to cry out Roman's name. Even without his cane, he could still fight off these men. He could still save me.

_He could still… Roman!_

I thought of Cinder suddenly, in her beautiful red dress, with her long dark hair. Cinder, with her breathtaking voice. Her voice that could call out, scream Roman's name at the top of her lungs. She would be better in this position than me. She might have a chance to get out alive, maybe even escape without chains. I thought of Cinder, and how furious she was going to be when she found out we'd failed.

The man hauled me off the ground, and I couldn't fight him. I could do nothing but sit and watch, barely conscious of what was happening around me. A gunshot. Was Roman still alive? The sound of a cracked bone. Was Roman alright? Chaos and footsteps.

_Where was Roman?_

I heard the sounds of heavy men hitting hard ground, and more explosions. I could do nothing but squeeze my eyes shut, still feeling the shocks of the taser. A fawness ran past me and out the front doors of the bank, hands empty. He ripped off his white mask and trampled it on the pavement as he fled. I began to believe that getting arrested was our best chance to survive this mess, if we couldn't flee like he had.

The sound gradually died down, until the bank was completely silent. Sirens still blared outside, but I couldn't hear any more footsteps or gunshots. What was happening? I heard low voices, but strained to understand. The few words I could make out, I couldn't piece together.

"...o! ...eo!" someone was shouting. "Neo!" I finally heard.

I lifted my head from my shoulder, where it had slumped at some point. It confused me how Roman could still stand even a moment after getting tased. Where was he now? Was he still standing?

"Neo!" the voice came closer. "Where are you, Neo?"

The voice sounded desperate. But who did it belong to?

A man came into my view, and knelt down tenderly. He placed a dark gloved hand on my shoulder.

"Neo, are you okay?"

This was the voice that had been calling me. I focused on his face. The bright eyes with the long lashes. The thin line of a mouth that was so used to a smirk. I reached out and touched it at the corner, and it drew up where I placed my finger.

Roman had found me. But… why was _he_ calling to me? He was the one person who knew without thinking that I couldn't answer. The one person who almost never needed me to speak. Maybe… maybe he just didn't know what else to do.

He scooped an arm behind my back and pulled me to my feet, where I struggled to stand even with his support.

"Come on, kid. We've got to go. The van's loaded, but our window is small."

I nodded, even if I didn't really grasp what he was saying. I reached for my parasol on the floor somewhere, but Roman pressed the handle into my palm. He'd already picked it up. With his help I walked briskly to the van, that someone had re-parked to the back, and climbed in. When I met the seat I let myself melt into it.

Roman knelt at my seat while the fawness behind the wheel took off. He took my hands in his, seeming to be examining my cuffs. Feeling myself come back online a little more, I gestured to my pocket. Roman let me reach, and I pulled out the keys.

He laughed at me, and kissed my cheek. "Neo, you're so clever!"

The kiss was a surprise, but he left me little time to think about it. With his adept hands, he had the right key in the lock in no time, and the cuffs fell off my wrists. He flashed me a grin, kicked the cuffs away, then took his seat in the front.

We were down the road several blocks from the bank when Roman finally let out a cheer from the front seat.

"We did it, team!" he congratulated, even though as I looked around, everyone was nursing wounds.

Roman lit a cigar and cracked the window. As the smell wafted through the small space and filled my lungs, I wondered what I would ever do without it.

* * *

Later, once we'd made it safely back to base and unloaded the goods, Cinder actually clapped Roman on the back with a pleased grin. I wanted to slap it off her face, but I resisted.

"Well done, Roman. I'm surprisingly pleased with your efforts. I have to admit, I didn't expect you to succeed. Especially not with such an abundance."

I bit down on my tongue to keep calm. We'd all risked our lives and our freedom so that our forces could get _paid_, but Cinder was _pleased_. How wonderful.

Roman seemed to sense that I was irritated, and pulled me along with him. He led me to the roof, where we leaned against the ledge and looked down at the city. Our favorite place. He lit another cigar. He took a puff and blew it out, then sighed deeply.

I was just as surprised when he draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me close as I had been by his kiss earlier. But he just held me there, and I could feel the heart beating in his chest. A long moment later he released me, but kept his arm over my shoulder.

"Neo… you fought wonderfully back there."

I frowned, and created an inch of space between us so I could shake my head.

"Hey, don't give me that. You were great. You even warned me that we had company. None of the White Fang did that, did they?"

I paused, but shook my head again.

"See? We wouldn't have made it back here without you."

I poked a finger into his chest. He let out a kind of laugh.

"Yeah, well. I did what I could, but I let my gun get broken. What good did that do us?"

This time I pulled in closer to him. He didn't fight the contact.

"But tonight, you scared me. I thought I lost you. Do you know what I would have done if they'd put you in the back of one of their cars and driven away?"

I looked up at him. I'd gotten caught twice. It almost happened. I shook my head, the only answer I seemed capable of tonight.

"I would have chased them down to get you back. And if that weren't enough, I'd have broken into whatever jail they'd put you in."

I couldn't fight my smile, or the breathy laugh that came with it. I believed him.

"Neo, I'm serious. But there's something else."

My eyes met his while I waited for his words. I wished so desperately that he didn't have to be the only one carrying the conversation.

"You don't have to tell me with words, how you feel. I know. And if it were up to me, we'd do something about it."

I furrowed my brows. He couldn't mean… could he? How could he know about that?

He seemed to catch the meaning of my expression and laughed. "Yes, I've known for a long time. Why do you think you can hide things like that from me? I know you better than anyone." He took one of my hands and pressed it flat to his chest, enveloping it in mine. "And you know me the same."

I wanted this moment to last forever. All the times I'd been jealous of Cinder's fights with Roman—_my Roman Torchwick—_melted away. He was mine as much as I was his, even if neither of us would say it.

"But we can't do this. Not now. I hope you can understand that that's why I never brought it up until now. Until… I was afraid I might lose you. All those scenarios played out in my mind at once when I couldn't find you. I was afraid I'd been too late. Too careless." He shook his own head, as if to clear the thoughts.

I continued to watch him, waiting for more. I hoped he could say enough for both of us.

"I can't afford to lose you, Neo. I can't do this while our lives are still so dangerous. So, I wanted you to know that I've got a someday in my mind. And you're in it."

I beamed. It was everything I ever wanted to hear from him. But the kiss the came next was worth more than all the words in the world. Roman tossed his cigar and his gloves and pulled me in gently. Our faces were so close I felt his lashes brush my cheeks, and our lips met.

* * *

"_I can't afford to lose you, Neo."_ Roman had said to me once.

He had been right, our lives were too dangerous to get too close. Although, once the words had been said, was there ever any going back from them? I never thought so.

My hands trembled as I picked up Roman's bowler hat, trying not to crush the rim in my fists. I blinked the tears from my eyes. On a whim, I slipped the hat onto my own head. The smell of cigar smoke and cologne enraptured me for an agonizing moment.

He had said it was something he couldn't afford, but it wasn't Roman who had lost me. I had lost Roman—_my_ Roman.

I tried my best to clear the images in my mind… that awful grimm on that awful night. And it was all the fault of that wretched girl in the red cape.

I slung my weapon over my shoulder and stood tall as I stepped up into Cinder's aircraft. As we rose above the city, I took in the sight from above, looking down on the whole horrible place, as Roman and I had always done.

* * *

A/N: Hey all. I'm not dead, yay. First fic in the RWBY fandom, and it won a fanfic contest at my local anime convention in its genre this year! =D I adore this pairing.

Another YGO oneshot coming up soon. Silver Threads and Moonstruck are still on haitus but WILL get finished. Someday. *Sigh* Have a good one, folks. Your support carries me :)

~ohmygodagiantrock


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